- Think RV life is all glamorous
and Instagram perfect every day?
- (laughs) No, it is not.
We get a ton of emails and comments from you
asking us questions
about that very non-glamorous side of RV life.
- We've been doing it for so long
we forget there are things that can be difficult
when you first start out,
or all the adjustments that you have to make
when you first hit the road.
- Yeah, contrary to popular belief
we're not sitting outside every day, around a campfire,
eating s'mores.
It just doesn't happen.
- So we've come up with almost 20 different things
that can be difficult as you transfer to full-time RV life
or just RV life in general.
So today we're gonna go through about half of those
and the rest you'll be able to find on the blog.
(gentle music)
- RV life is a lot of work.
- It's really true.
And the more stuff you have, the bigger your RV is,
the longer it's gonna take for you to pack up and unpack
every time you move your RV.
- [Phil] And it's not the same each time,
it's like playing Tetris.
- (laughs) You get more things in, some things go out
and so you're always in a constant state of shuffle
and moving things around and packing up and unpacking.
One of our more recent acquisitions is all of our dive gear.
Now to get that to fit in this RV
we really had to do some juggling and some purging.
So, we ended up removing two sets of sheets for the bed.
We had actually four sets because we have two beds,
so now we've decided our spare sheets
will also be our guest room sheets.
We also ditched our guest towels,
so now if we have guests they have to use our beach towels.
And of course, a few other things went by the wayside.
And now we have plenty of room for the dive gear.
Believe it or not,
you're gonna wanna get away from each other
every now and then, just like that.
After working for 40 hours a week,
being separated most of the time
except for night and weekends,
when you guys are stuck together like this
in a tiny space for 24/7
a break every now and then will be well needed.
- That's right.
You can to the back of the RV and close the door
but you're really still in the same room.
That thin door
is not going to give you any kind of separation
or peace and quiet, if that's what you're looking for.
- Something as simple as a walk around the neighborhood
or the campground, going to the grocery store,
going to a coffee shop by yourself
might be all you need to get your me time.
So that way, when you get back together,
you're actually better together.
- I love her.
- One of the biggest things people don't realize
is how much RVing can actually cost.
- Yes, it can be really expensive in the beginning,
especially with a lot of the startup costs.
- And then you have to take in fuel costs
and campground costs.
And a lot of the things people don't usually think about
that they're gonna have to spend money on once they RV.
Now, the good thing is you can spend
as little or as much as you want in this lifestyle,
but you are gonna have to find your way
and your middle ground.
- [Phil] We've put together
three years of our travel expenses
and if you're interested in what it costs us to RV,
head on over to todayissomeday.net.
- And, of course, the links will be below.
- Not all campgrounds, unlike the one we're in now,
are glamorous.
- That's right.
No matter how many reviews you look at,
no matter how much research you do,
you are gonna land in a few campgrounds
that you're not gonna like.
- Yeah, and if it has RV Resort in their name,
not all of them are a resort just because they have a pool.
- Just remember when you hit a campground
you're not buying your site,
you're only renting it for a few days, a few weeks, maybe,
so just kinda roll with the punches
and know the next campground will probably be better.
- Yeah, and PSA, your house has wheels.
If you don't like it, keep moving.
You're going to constantly monitor your tank levels
and your power consumption.
Doesn't matter if you're plugged in or boondocking,
you will check those probably five to 10 times a day.
- RV trip planning
will take much longer than you expect it will.
It doesn't matter if you are a newbie
or somebody who's been full-time RVing for three years,
it's gonna take much longer than you expect.
You will get into a groove
and figure out the way you like to trip plan,
but just be warned it will take a lot of time.
For those of you who've been thinking
about getting a membership to RV Trip Wizard,
which is the planning tool that I use
and I've used since day one.
I love this tool and I can't imagine RVing without it.
RV Trip Wizard is actually a part of RV LIFE Pro.
It has a whole bunch of things
that you can use while you're traveling around the country.
Their price is actually going up
from $49 a year to $59 a year on March 1st,
so don't wait if you've been thinking about joining.
Now, this membership is a lock-in type membership,
so if you join now, your price will never go up
for the duration of your membership.
We are affiliates with RV LIFE Pro
so I have a coupon for you that will save you 25% today.
If you're not sure where to start with your RV trip planning
I can help you with that, as well.
I have some videos and some blogs
that will help get you started.
I'll put links for those down below.
Every GPS gets it wrong every now and then.
- Yeah, but that should not keep you from having
an RV-specific GPS.
- Absolutely, that's gonna save you
and keep you from getting into trouble
from those low bridges
or bridges that can't take as much weight
as your rig might be.
- Getting mail on the road is not as easy as it seems.
Some campgrounds don't allow
for regular mail and/or packages,
and it can take up to 10 days
from your mail forwarding service to receive your mail,
so plan accordingly
- Contrary to popular belief, you cannot boondock for free.
- [Phil] (laughs) That's right.
Now, it may be less expensive than a campground,
but you'll still pay.
- Some of the cost you'll incur,
you'll have to pay for your laundry, propane,
pay to dump, and sometimes even pay to fill your water.
So just think about those things
when you're planning to live free in your RV.
Cooking might be more difficult than you expect it to be
and that's for a number of reasons,
lack of counter space, lack of food storage.
You may not be able
to bring your favorite appliances with you on the RV,
so you're probably gonna develop a new way of cooking
that works for you on the road.
The hardest part about cooking in small spaces
really is deciding
which appliances you're gonna make room for
and it may even evolve over time.
So currently we have instant pot,
we recently acquired this air fryer,
and we have our convection oven.
I hate using the convection oven,
it takes too long to heat up, too long to cool down
and it's just a pain, so it's not my favorite
which is why we invested in the air fryer.
Now, unfortunately the air fryer doesn't really have a home,
so we're actually storing it behind Phil's recliner
as we travel
and that's where it hangs out when it's not in use.
Now, negotiating your space can also be difficult.
Once I have the cutting board here
my whole counter is practically gone
and when I'm cooking here, it eats up all the space, too,
so it's really difficult to do more than one task at a time.
- We hope this gives you a little insight
into the not so glamorous side of the RV lifestyle.
- That's right.
And we would love to hear
some of the things that you had to deal with
when you first started RVing.
What was something that surprised you
that might have been a little more difficult
than you expected?
- Yeah, so go ahead and put that in the comments
'cause it's going to help everybody that watches this video.
- That's right.
- Thanks for popping in. - Thanks for popping in.
We hope to see you
on the road. - On the road.